Chevrolet To Reassess Trim And Build Specifications For Sixth-Generation Camaro

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When the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro was revealed, General Motors took a value approach to the pony car: pack it with loads of features and sell it at a greater value than the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.

It’s a good scheme on paper, but the standalone figure has likely left some buyers wincing at the price of entry for a V8-powered Camaro. That’s something Chevrolet is now looking to fix, according to Automotive News. Mark Reuss, GM product chief, said the brand sees opportunity at the low end of Camaro trims and with SS model options to reorganize things.

“I think we’ve got opportunities at the very low end of the Camaro range and some remix of some of the V-8 options on it so we don’t force people to buy all the options with a V-8, just to get a V-8,” Reuss said at the reveal of the Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup race car.

A Ford Mustang GT and Dodge Challenger R/T start at around $34,000, while a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro SS commands roughly $4,000 more. A V6-powered Camaro also costs over $2,000 more than a comparable Mustang equipped with a V6 engine. Ford will do away with the V6 option for the 2018 model year and make the Mustang Ecoboost its entry-level option before buyers step into a 5.0-liter V8-powered GT trim.

Chevrolet confirmed it is exploring multiple opportunities to expand the Camaro’s range. Whether that results in a less expensive SS model or stripping options from the current SS remains to be seen. Last year, Chevrolet installed a Camaro 1LS model to lower the base price of the car from $27,595 to the current $26,900 starting price.

Saw this from launch. In my area (Cayman Islands) SS comes one way…fully loaded, including sunroof and automatic transmission….but no lumbar seat support! And SS almost $10,000 US more! compared to well equipped GT Premium.
Mustang GT / non-GT….option as you like pretty much….guess which one sells very well?…that’s right….Mustang!
Versus very few V6 Camaros and no new gen 6 SS’s

It is dead simple. Don’t cut trim level equipment, but bring back Line-item option ordering and not force a equipment onto a customer that doesn’t want it, or want to pay for it. . That will fix the situation.

Pricing for all cars is very high with wages stuck in economic limbo, so one has to decide what they have to have and what they can live without to get the acquisition price point to where they can afford the vehicle.

Example; You want the big brake option and are forced to also check the ‘RS’ option to get the brakes, thereby adding almost $2,000 dollars to the bottom line. Doesn’t work for most of us who have too carefully manage our treasure to be able too step up to buy a Camaro or Mustang.

I have too commend GM on the pricing of the various Camaro trims with their value added content. Makes it easy to select a trim and add what else you want without having to select a multitude of options to get what you want/need.

I remember you could buy a new 57 fuel injection 150 series 2 door sedan with no back seat to get the lightest performance car. that is the way it should be now most powerful engine in a stripped down car that does not cost $75K like the Z/28

Creating an option list instead of pre packaging items is a step in the right direction. However I think styling is a bigger issue. This generation does not have the muscular look and presence of the previous gen. The frontal appearance is too tweeked with the squashed up lights. Put them side by side and look head on, the new Camaro looks like a little brother. Mustang( hate to say it), has a muscular presence that can’t be denied. Style still sells

Profits aren’t evil. You need to make a profit in order to survive as a business. The Camaro isn’t a Bread & Butter vehicle for GM. We are lucky that they are available at all.

All companies try to raise the profit profile by making available desirable options, but when they tack on other stuff, too, or raise the trim level to get say a sunroof, Then we all should have an issue with that. It particularly irks me when you opt for the upper trim level to get that sunroof and you lose the Manual transmission availability.

Price out a BMW sometime too see how bad it can be. I have been buying BMW’s for the past 30 years, but no more, and that is only due to their current pricing structure which seriously pisses me off.

With the Gen5, 2/3 of Camaros sold were V6s. In other words, they paid for the ability to offer a V8 and specialty low volume cars like Z/28 and Z1L. So, it is critical to the continuation of Camaro that GM find ways to move volume and that’s only going to happen at the low end of the market. I do believe that buyer is more interested in a NA V6 than a turbo 4, so Ford is making a mistake that will benefit Camaro when no V6 Mustang is available

The Mustang came out when I was a senior in high school. I was the first person there when they opened the doors at the dealership the first time the public could see the car. It was a plain white coupe with a six banger with Fordomatic. A few months later later, my aunt bought a white coupe with a bench seat and 3 on the tree. I put quite a few clutches into that car as her city is quite hilly and steep. She still has the Mustang, but no longer drives at 89.

Later, I test drove a 65′ 2+2 GT with the 271-HP Hi-Pro. You didn’t have to upgrade to a GT to get that engine and you could get it with a 3-speed. So much for stepping up and being ‘Worthy’ to buy a V8 Mustang or a Camaro.

By the way, I didn’t buy the GT because I had already bought a 442 convertible before the Mustang was available, but I sure liked the little 2+2 and much later bought a new SVO to make up for that missed opportunity.

Chevy can integrate some of the exotic structural design elements used by Cadillac’s CT6 to make it a thousand pounds lighter than their competitors, shaving 800-1,000 pounds off the Camaro would mean the base Camaro may weight under 3,000 pounds and even with the 275 horsepower LTG 2.0L DOHC-4v 4-cyl turbo will mean it will be a beast.

Wrong! The camaro will never weigh less then a corvette! Anybody trying to find a reason to build a Camaro with a I4/v6 should be removed from the team that gets paid to build the car!

I wish GM didn’t even release performance numbers on the I4/v6 models because what’s the point. Who cares how fast these cars go? So let me get this straight you want the looks and feel of a Camaro but not the performance! Is that what your telling me? Complete rubbish!

Just maybe some people like the looks of a Camaro and want one with the V6 for a daily driver and don’t care about 0-60 numbers or they would purchase a V8 . Nothing wrong with that IMO .
I agree about the options list being more flexible so you can buy what you want . It’s easier / cheaper on the factory floor to bundle options for the build process , but if they want to sell more cars making line item options is the way to go .

I would like to see them go with a lower price for the SS to start, maybe eliminating the 1SS and 2SS designation and making the options more free flowing, for example, you can’t get a HUD on a 1SS Camaro, why? Ideally, I would buy a cloth SS 6 speed with just the performance exhaust and the HUD, thats it, but to get those options you have to go into an 2SS, which then adds a bunch more to the price.

I would make the black hood optional on the 1LE cars, not everyone wants to drive around looking like they just got a replacement hood that hasn’t been painted, or at least make it an option to get a painted hood, or vice versa.

Add the 1LE option to the 4 banger, or maybe a limited lower cost 8/10th’s of a 1LE package for the 4 cylinder.

The steering wheel is kinda ugly, and the rest of the interior doesn’t really do much for me.

A Heritage Package or something like that, one of the shames of the Camaro is that it really doesn’t have much of a film heritage to pull from, where Ford can do a Bullitt Mustang every couple of years, other than the quickly wearing out Transformers franchise, the Camaro doesn’t have much, maybe the silver Z28 from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Witness: Chevy just announced the Tahoe “Custom” $4k less than the LS lowering the entry price for a brand new full size SUV to $45,000. The Custom still includes the 5.3L V8, eliminates the not-very-useful third row seating and allows 4WD as an option. MORE CHOICE for the buying public at lower entry prices is a very successful selling strategy. Good for GM. Good for Chevy.